Charlie Wayman

Poor old AP, damned if you don't, damned if you do. If he cam with a preconceived list and signed them you'd moan because he knew nothing about Saints and how those blokes would fit in, now he is here give him some time to understand what he's got and what he needs.. We used to call it S.W.O.T. analysis in business and it didn't stand for Sign Worthless Old Tossers

Yeah! but Jimmy Greaves was crap, They've changed the offside rule since those days so 'goal-hangers' as we used to call them were made obsolete after that.

It is possible that; 1. Gregor Rasiak has transformed himself overnight from a disinterested bystander into a world-class striker who can score goals for fun. 2. AP has such an inspirational and articulated approach to player motivation that within 5 days of his arrival on the training ground, the proverbial 'arm round the shoulder' has magically altered the personality of this once recalcitrant egocentric 3. With a revised system of play that prevents the mid-field from retreating to their own 18-yard box every time their opponents get the ball, there is now less of a gap to the strikers so attacks can have substance and purpose. You take your choice but I'm backing the last of these, that players like Rasiak are more the victims or profiteers of the system of play they are in. Of course his crowning ability is to score goals in the manner of the two he netted on Saturday not to run about getting sweaty and knackered like a headless chicken. They were not gifts to a lazy sod but the result of getting balls with pace and height into the 6 yard box from wide angles so that the striker had at least a half decent chance to make something of them ... and he did! Don't under rate this guy because of past experience. No striker on earth is better than the system he plays in. Did he do a better job than John on Saturday? Statistically, Yes but as Saints were totally all at sea in the first half, it is not really a fair comparison as Rasiak would have struggled as well. Sometimes it's better to be a sub when things have settled down a bit.

Morgan played against Ajax and demonstrated that he has vision and ability aplenty, so much so in fact that AP would have automatically included him against Hearts had he been fit and willing. So which is it? I think he is far too good for this league and he is only a kid so why would he want to spend 5,6 or 7 years, i.e., his whole career, helping Saints get back to the Promised Land when he could develop and mature with a PL team like Arsenal with far brighter prospects over that period of time, more money, more medals, more international caps. Why would anybody want to be a professional footballer from abroad playing in a foreign country for a THIRD RATE team that his mates back home have never heard of, from a town they would struggle to find on a map. This is where we fans have to swallow hard and accept reality despite all the hoopla that goes with a rich new owner and a newly appointed manager eager to please. We are where we are and not where our hearts think we should be. Players have short careers in which every year counts and which could be their last because of the cruelties of fate and the whims of feckless and bigoted managers. Hay is made in the sunshine, which the French will know better than us as they have far more experience.

Shame on all those so-called fans on here who couldn't be arsed to turn up and watch at SMS yesterday. What a dismal turn-out for AP's first game. It depressed me, seeing so few so goodness only knows the effect it had o ourteam morale. If this is 'everyone behind our team' Southampton style, then we are well and truly Effed! Cheers to the 4,500 who care and sod the rest of you miserable, penny pinching sods.

... AND You keep needing to keep reminding yourself that we are in Division Effing 3! Forget all this re-branding sh*t* put out by the Football League over recent years. Perhaps that we have a realistic chance of ditching this charlatan 'new' Labour crap for ever next spring, maybe we can all get back to the centuries old tradition of calling a spade an Effing spade and being a shade more realistic about evreything. A healthy dose of realism does nobody any harm as we have found out the hard way this summer.

AP is bound to say that everything that went before was crap and it's all at rock bottom. It leaves acres of room to squirm later on if things don't go quite according to plan. I do not agree that our youngsters are that bad. Rooney was only 17 when he played in the Prem. We have some very talented kids and if AP succeeds only in demotivating them and ****ing them off, they will seek their futures elsewhere. We've lost quite a few in recent years and the bleeding must be stopped otherwise what on earth is the point of The Academy?

Who was the famous German General who proclaimed that all Plans were made obsolete by the first shot of battle.. ? Nothing matters but the first 20 mins against Millwall in two weeks time. Until the strength of the opposition is known everything else is huff-and-puff. If we go one down to them, we will know that we will be in for a very long season of nail-biting tension and a battle against relegation.

Move on fella's, move on. Same old players. same old results. The Future is Bright The Future is Red & White As long as we don't bring back Yesterday's clueless sh*t*

Quite! I've never heard of him either and admit my first reaction was "Here we go again with a whole string of no-names and no hopers coming in to fatten the payroll". At least St Albans Reserves wasn't on his CV. Sorry, not impressed at all. Try harder

I am delighted. They need every donkey they can get on Blackpool sands.

It was TRAINING FFS! A prcatice match, just to get blokes off the meat pies and in the gym - nothing more, nothing less! Stop taking yourself so seriously.

Poor only because our midfield sat so deep from the off to prevent a rout. There was only a few yards between the back four and the midfield FIVE, Rasiak was about forty yards further up field trying to do the job that strikers are paid to do. The only balls h ego were high balls hit more in hope than with precision. Early on he managed to get up to a fe and nod them back to support players but once they emigrated to their own penalty box of course Rasiak disappeared as the long balls up to him were coming from even further away and were never anywhere near enough to him to give him any chance at all. Not a day to judge our strikers fairly so best to leave it to Pardew to sort out.

I would have thought when addressing players who have loss all self belief that something a bit more imaginative and constructive might have been said, more a rallying call than a bollicking that they really don't need or deserve right now.

Not really late goals. Ajax stepped up a gear in the second half and were very comfortable winners, the gulf in class all too easy to see. On the other hand our lads were knackered after 20 mins, so the contest was effectively over. A lack of leadership and purpose was evident to all, not entirely unexpected as we don' t have manager right now, so we must hope that AP has enough time to get some tactical cohesion and knowse into the squad before Aug 8. Schneiderlin looked a real class act and showed the rest how holding the ball up and running with it changed the way the game was going. If we can keep him and keep him fit then we have a mid-field general as good as any will be in this league. As usual Lallana looked like a headless chicken, where he earned his reputation is beyond me. No wonder there were no offers, can we not offload him to Bournemouth?

How do you know the "quality of this league" as we haven't played in it for nigh on fifty years and in all probability you have never seen a match in your life.

Back to the Future? I can't imagine Pardew has made any comment at all about who should or should not be here next season. Why would he, looking at a 3-5 year plan for success elect to waste money on guys who are way past their best, cannot get fit and would keep promising younger graduates out of the side. I don't buy all this experience over youth crap and thank goodness neither did Alex Ferguson. Not that it did him any good.

Anybody who cares to read my posts from about four years ago (no takers!) will read that Alan Pardew was my first choice before Burley came. What a shame it has taken four years for the penny to drop. Too late now?

perhaps the reason Ajax are coming here is so Martin Jol can have a good look at us...

It'll be Sammy Hypia. Graeme Murty doesn't count as he is here already.

If you are a true football fan, then you should be ashamed of yourself. Top level football in the South of England is hanging by a thread, Saints almost went under, Bournemouth are teetering on the brink and now our only premier League side is nearing wipe-out. Rivalry or not how can that be good. I wish absolutely to disassociate myself from your ill considered nonsense.

I was there! There are difficult days ahead for these young men as they head off to Helmund Province and we must hope that their day in the sun parading through the City will help fortify their resolve. They know that they will travel with the goodwill of us all. After all, it is we, the people that they are protecting. Pray for their safe return

What amazes me is how constrained people are in their thinking when it comes to change. All the names above, collectively known as "the usual suspects" demonstrate only people's inability to think outside the box. Why do fans expect a fresh new start with any past manager or associate who is carrying so much baggage from past connections with this club that our future is knackered even before he gets here? There will be always a faction 'pro' and a faction 'anti' any OLD manager, which is devisive in itself; that manager will walk in on Day 1 with fixed ideas about what needs to be done, a list of favourites etc etc, rather than a new manager starting from a clean sheet with all players equal and highly motivated. We need a CLEAN BREAK! We do not need any of the above. We need not necessarily make a left-field choice but at least find somebody of sufficient stature, maturity and who commands respect and will stay the course for five years at least if things go well. And... please... no more experimental weirdo's or giving 'young english unknowns (sic: cheapies)' a chance

Why? He hasn't a clue of what is expected of a director as was quite painfully obvious two weeks ago when asked about the finances of the Pinnacle group... "... not really my business, if they say they have the money, I'm sure they do.. " or words to that effect. It isn't going to happen. We need to move on not cling to fixtures of the past.

The future is bright, the future is Red & White